Report today examining current efforts to bring safer consumption spaces - protected places used for the hygienic consumption of pre-obtained drugs in a non-judgmental environment and under the supervision of trained staff - to the United States.
Research indicates that safer consumption spaces are effective at reducing overdose fatalities, hospitalizations, infectious disease transmission, while also increasing initiation and retention in health care (which leads to better long-term substance use treatment outcomes). They are also cost effective.
The report offers strategies for extending funding and advocating for legally sanctioned safer consumption spaces in a manner that focuses on the leadership and needs of people who use drugs.